


Only Ashes

by Iambic



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Implied Sibling Incest, M/M, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-22
Updated: 2012-04-22
Packaged: 2017-11-04 03:45:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/389382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iambic/pseuds/Iambic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako wants to get them out before it's too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only Ashes

Bolin doesn't walk for three weeks. Or rather, he doesn't get much farther than a few steps before he falls down, and Mako is there, scolding and pushing him back down onto the futon, stop moving, you're making it worse. The futon will never recover from the stains but Bolin's leg might, little by little, and it'd be nice if they had a waterbender around who could do something about it.

Bolin won't speak to him. He speaks, because Bolin is actually incapable of not talking, but it's to the air, rambling about what he'll do when he stops being locked up in this room, what he wants to eat, what he's gonna do to the guy who squealed on them. And Mako is afraid, because he saw what Bolin did to the people whose only wrongdoings were being on the wrong side of a turf war.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Mako looking out for his little brother, Bolin keeping his innocence as long as possible while Mako made the hard choices, that was how it should go. And sure, Bolin's still smiling, still preening for the girls who scoff at his scuffed shoes and too-small tunic, still taking casual shots at the high-profile assholes who turn their noses up at the two homeless kids looking for work. 

But since they joined up with the Triple Threats, he's changed.

Bolin spends three weeks agitated and resentful, and when he stands up and doesn't fall, he makes for the door. So of course Mako's there in front of him to bar the way. That's what brothers are for.

"Get out of my way." Bolin's first words to him in three weeks.

"I told them we're out." Mako's always been slighter of build, but he's taller, and when he stands at full height he can still make Bolin look up. "I don't want you running with that crowd anymore."

Bolin crosses his arms. He's still leaning on his better leg; he probably won't get far. "You're not the boss of me." 

"You saw what happened out there. I don't want us to live like that." Mako sighs, doesn't cross his arms -- he needs to be open right now. He wants to wrap them around his brother instead and hold him down so Bolin can never put himself in stupid situations again. He wants to keep them a secret hidden in the walls of Republic city where no one can see them, two broken boys with nothing to prove. That's the way of fire, he knows, to take everything for itself and leave only ashes in its wake. Mako wants to leave their ashes here and vanish into thin air.

"We don't have a choice, brother. You wanna eat, right? That means money." Bolin takes a step forward, Mako doesn't take a step back. Bolin's injured leg is trembling.

"We'll find something else. I'll find something else. I always do."

"You're not getting yourself hauled across the city just so I get an extra meal!" shouts Bolin, and he pushes Mako, and then his leg gives out and he buckles, goes down. Mako barely catches him before he hits the floor.

"We were safe with the Triple Threats," Bolin says. "They had our backs. We were brothers."

"You are my brother," Mako snaps. "Not theirs."

"We're not gonna be able to make it alone in Republic City. Not without a gang."

Mako grabs his shoulders, makes him look up. Bolin, when he's serious, gets that stony set to his jaw, but it's cracked now with surprise and his eyes widen, and this is the face Mako has always lived for. "As long as you have me," Mako says, "you will never need anyone else."

Bolin doesn't walk again for another week, and then rent is due, so they pack up what little they have. When the landlord shuffles in, scowling, all he finds of his former tenants are the ashes in the fire, still warm to the touch.


End file.
